Mitchell Reel Forum

Hello Mates,

After 20 years of studying all things Mitchell, you might say I've seen it all. I have studied every super-rare reel down to the most common Mitchell 300 reel. There's one that I have a special bond with, that's the Mitchell 300 1st version reel. I have studied a dozen or so, but only 4 were true 1st versions. Most times the handle knob was replaced and/or the gearing was upgraded. There's much more, but I'll just stop there for now.

The one I loved the most was the one that got away!!! It was on a French eBay listing in France. Back in those years, everyone who knew anything about winning on eBay, knew that you had to snipe in the last few seconds of the listing to win. The selling price was less than 25 Euros with only seconds to go. I went for it and bid a whopping 301 Euros. Wham bam, I thought I had won it but there was another sniper, Dan Hawks had seen this listing and after looking at my 1st version study, he knew it was a 1st version. He could tell by, as I say in my study, the two things you look for is the light color on the handle knob, and the missing paint.

Dan took the win and I still think about this reel, the one that got away

Anyway, here's what we saw: I know there will be more 1st Versions coming up for sale, but you have to search daily...

Regards, Wallace

Wallace,

At least you had a shot at it. I never had a chance to, even, bid on a first version.

Ted Lanham

Dan's no mug and has a hawk eye . Is he still involved in the collecting side of things last I can remember he was selling off a lot of high quality Mitchell's. Cheers

Fishabout,
If I had been lucky enough to find a 1st version, it would be the last one I'd part with.

Ted Lanham

I agree Ted.

I've just been contacted by one of our earlier members who corrects me that he has found not a dozen first versions, as I thought, but twenty five!


No wonder none of the rest of us can find one....he's got the lot!


It's what is sorely missing from my collection, but I have little to do with eBay these days...indeed with their recent move to oust PayPal I think the platform might be finished soon.

And I still never found an 808 conversion kit either, though I did bag a reel that was clearly a recipient of one...so that's better than nothing.

WARNING! DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!!

Bailarm, I now know who you're talking about. One man who has ran off more collectors that anyone else ever. His rhetoric has gotten him banned from every forum that I know of, including the one I had formally. He's a charlatan who has taken my work, copied it, made a few changes, and calls it his study.

I have tried to work with him in the past, so I know what he means when he makes claims like owning 25 first versions! Here's the truth; he took my study on dating Mitchell reels and made changes to benefit him. The one and most egregious thing he fails to tell everyone is, where I call the original first versions, he calls them prototypes. What I call 2nd versions, he calls these 1st versions, and so on, and so forth!

I know this from him my friend! He told me himself in an email where he's trying to get me to make these same changes. He begs for glory but has nothing to show he deserves it. No books, no website, no forum, no studies!!! I have been contacted by several Mitchell collectors and they don't want to join and have him, or his mouthpiece, get their bubbles busted. I know the feeling well! Cheers, Wallace